digicidal
Major Contributor
Here's a interesting demonstration:
As far as whether or not higher resolution is required in order to preserve the audible portion of the audio information... hard to say, as that depends on whether or not you consider inaudible information meaningful. It's clear that the dynamic range is adequate as that is limited to at least a few dBs less than 16/44 allows depending on NR used - however, as far as frequency range then it could be considered inadequate.
Again the real issue is whether or not anything outside the ~96dB DR and ~20-20k FR limitations actually affects the enjoyment of the recording to any meaningful extent is the question. Even if it were detectable, I would argue that the 'losses' (if any) are insignificant - when compared to the inherent differences between live instruments in more optimal spaces and recorded audio played via transducers in less optimal spaces (regardless of analog or digital at any resolution).
Edit: Considering this paper (which I haven't purchased but members could get), it would appear that even the DR limitation might be considered nearly inadequate... although I'd guess 16/44 with dithering would be ~120dB?.
As far as whether or not higher resolution is required in order to preserve the audible portion of the audio information... hard to say, as that depends on whether or not you consider inaudible information meaningful. It's clear that the dynamic range is adequate as that is limited to at least a few dBs less than 16/44 allows depending on NR used - however, as far as frequency range then it could be considered inadequate.
Again the real issue is whether or not anything outside the ~96dB DR and ~20-20k FR limitations actually affects the enjoyment of the recording to any meaningful extent is the question. Even if it were detectable, I would argue that the 'losses' (if any) are insignificant - when compared to the inherent differences between live instruments in more optimal spaces and recorded audio played via transducers in less optimal spaces (regardless of analog or digital at any resolution).
Edit: Considering this paper (which I haven't purchased but members could get), it would appear that even the DR limitation might be considered nearly inadequate... although I'd guess 16/44 with dithering would be ~120dB?.
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